A Look at The Wire (Deep Space Nine)

[@migangelmart]

Garak would've loved Colombo. We know the suspect is guilty from the start. The only question is piecing together how he's guilty.

[@allanolley4874]

KZbin auto captions consistently renders Cardassian as Kardashian, another gem.

[@ExplodingConsole]

I like the little detail of the way Quark moves his hand by Bashir's ear when mentioning the holosuite at 2:10 . The Ferengi equivalent of a certain hand motion to imply a certain activity.

[@MKDumas1981]

"No female. Just me."

[@stevena488]

"ODO COMIN' YO!" - The Wire

[@ReaverLordTonus]

The origin of Garak and the reason for his exile were never really revealed in the series, only small clues. But what if it did reveal it and we just didn't notice? Garak tells three possible stories and when Bashir asks which was true, Garak says all three were true and the lies even more so. While a superb line, I think that may actually be key to solving the mystery. One lie that lead to a truth was Garak referring to his first name "Elim" in third person implying there was another character in his stories when there wasn't. By this example you could take each lie from the stories and find a truth. All three stories depict "Elim" as someone who disagrees with Garak's actions in regards to Bajoran prisoners. The rest of the details of the stories can be dismissed as they contradict eachother. The only things we know are true is that Garak did something that would go against everything he was taught in life and his career and it destroyed both. Considering it was when Garak was at his most vulnerable in withdrawal, I would say that the second version of the story has the most truth to it. I think he did have a moment of weakness and showed mercy and compassion, maybe to a group of prisoners, one prisoner, a target he was supposed to kill, or just in general, something very unCardassian. Enabrim Tain, his superior and later revealed to be his father, did seem to take minor jabs at Garak in "The die is cast" in regards to him showing any kind of sentiment or attachment to others. Tain sees Garak as a liability because he's gone soft, his reluctance to interrogate Odo seems to recreate a scenario in which Garak had failed Tain in the past. Perhaps the very thing that got him exiled. So it is highly likely Garak did show compassion to someone, likely a Bajoran prisoner he was told to interrogate and/or torture. Garak may have had a sudden moment of self doubt, that it was all pointless, the occupation and their cruelty to the Bajorans. This would be something that he would have some regret for as this destroyed his relationship with his father, something he longed for. Another factor that supports this is that Tain could have just executed him, but despite being as merciless as he is, doesnt. He even says later that he wants Garak to live a long healthy life in exile, this wasn't out of fatherly love as we know thats not his style, but rather him implying he wants Garak to fully understand his mistake. Exiled to a world full of the people he took pity on and threw away his future for, but would never reward him for it, only look upon him with animosity and that's what Tain wants. Why let a man die proudly for his convictions when you can force him to live forever in shame of them?

[@Zeithri]

It could also be an additional to it. What if the Bajorans he spared turned out to be part of the resistance, and they succeeded in killing _one very specific Cardassian_ that would have massive repercussions. Perhaps even big enough to be the cause of the end of the occupation all-together. That'd be such an enormous f-up and reason for Exile.

[@beav1962]

I believe Garak revealed why he was exiled in Improbable Cause......he failed to pay his taxes! 😉

[@seanfulldark]

Well as of once great man once said " I prefer my origin to be multiple choice!" granted he wasn't the good great man but still

[@ReaverLordTonus]

@@Zeithri if he did that, Tain would be the least of his concerns, in addition to plenty of others like Gul Darheel, Dukat would have made sure he was executed, not just the one or two times he tried.

[@myriadmediamusings]

The Cardassians, for as totalitarian as they may be, I find to be one of the more fascinating Trek cultures to explore. Perhaps it’s because of how they were a stark contrast to the other Trek culture and how DS9 gave them much more layer and sympathy.

[@jeffreymeehan3116]

I've heard the writers say that whereas if you delved into the other "enemy" races, the audience tended to like/respect them more. The Klingons are the perfect example. But when the Dominion was introduced, they wanted to make them MORE creepy or villainous the more time you spent with them. See the Jem'Hadar.

[@xp7575]

I think it's because of the performances given by Mark Alaimo and Andrew Robinson, two of the greatest actors to ever appear in Star Trek

[@paulevans9307]

I think they are written with a bit more thought than other races... The warriors with honour, the goblins with profits, the religious fanatics with prophets. While they could have just been "Space 1940s Germans That Might Get This Comment Auto Flagged", they got given a bit more depth. The other recurring races got fleshed out more as they went along and we're not just from a planet of hats, but the development there happened after the fact. The recurring species added in from the later TNG/DS9 era seem a lot more mature from the start

[@BenetGrady-wi4ke]

The fact that the cultured, cynical, highly intelligent and perceptive Garak (a burned spy, no less) sincerely believes in service to the state being the greatest aspiration of a true Cardassian makes Cardassian totalitarianism interesting.

[@bthsr7113]

It definitely helps that the Cardassians are a DS9 original so there's no established continuity to worry about, and there are several seasons to flesh them out.

[@brianweaver327]

The fact that an episode of this quality scores 8/10 really speaks to the high standard of DS9. One of my favorites in my favorite series.

[@Redshirt434]

Season 2 DS9 Cardassia is the small regional power trying SO VERY HARD to be part of the "big three" but lack in almost every metric. The only thing they have is a reasonable amount of ships and territory, but as later DS9 proves, the Cardassian fleet is really a paper tiger.

[@JamesTobiasStewart]

Me and some friends broke down the major competitors in the Dominion War and assigned them WW2 combatants. We gave the Cardassians Italy. An authoritarian state with imperialist ambitions, who realised too late that they were punching way above their weight and are forced to rely more and more on their primary ally, until by the end, they're just a puppet vassal state, with a token collaborator supposedly in charge.

[@bthsr7113]

"I don't hit them, I practice avantgarde acupressure on their faces." Oh that's good. That's very good.

[@Manta665]

2:50 - I think "avantgarde accupressure" is one of my most favourite SFDebris/Sisko-Quote ^^

[@dragon22214]

Ohhh do sometimes wonder how ee grew to love odo with the things hes done

[@Robizoid]

One of DS9's very best, the show needed more moments like this!👍

[@bthsr7113]

Aside from avoiding comparisons with a rival show, I feel like Obsidian Order just has a lot more personality, and a much harsher impression. Obsidian is sharp, exacting, and unforgiving of mistakes or those who get in its way.

[@KianaWolf]

A razor's edge that can slice through bone, but brittle enough to be cracked by hand. Great metaphor for Cardassia as a whole.

[@xellestar]

This is the episode i remember going ok this series is amazing and decided to watch all of it

[@MKDumas1981]

3:58 - For when you're having trouble with your angina.

[@Arikayx13]

I'm glad we never really know what Garrick did. If we knew precisely we could put ourselves in his shoes and decide if it was worth it, instead we understand its severity through the punishment and Garrick's willingness to accept it.

[@MKDumas1981]

Reported on the Vietnam War, and died in 2014.

[@stuartwald2395]

In SFD's description of the relationship between the characters, he describes how Garak does not tell or ask Bashir to do something; he just leaves a few clues and lets Bashir act on his own instincts. This also prefigures another Bashir relationship with the one human we meet who also acts like this...Sloan.

[@Grombrindal]

The venom in your words when you called Odo a fascist was inspiring! So inspiring that he's my new favorite character. 😍

[@mightybluespider]

Referring to Siddig as such for a season 2 episode...

[@andrewklang809]

Duet, Necessary Evil, The Wire, The Die is Cast. The pre-Dominion War episodes that made DS9 so great were so often the Cardassia-focused ones. Forget the Borg, they were the greatest villains of 80s/90s Trek. Villainy isn't just about being the biggest and baddest, it's about being twisted and yet having so much conviction in what you do. Iago (not the parrot) wasn't Thanos, he was just a nasty person who would whisper poison straight into your brain because he wanted to. Cardassia wasn't a mortal threat to the Federation, but they were a mortal threat to someone nonetheless, and they always believed they were in the right and had some ready argument for every monstrous thing they did.

[@MKDumas1981]

Other than the pilot, and Joseph Sisko's passing mention in "Homefront", the Borg didn't appear in DS9.

[@fredrikcarlstedt393]

Cardassian epics really should be appealing to the archetypical Swedish civil servant .

[@migangelmart]

Cardassians would really dig Colombo.

[@Redshirt434]

And also, we never know what Garak did to ultimately get banished, but my head canon has always been that it wasn't something so awful, but something he refused to do because of that, and Tain, being the heartless monster he was, he banished his own son.

[@rwg6357]

any excuse to get rid of a weakness

[@paulevans9307]

He didn't do his tax return on time. He is so ashamed that it was such a mundane reason, he spent his exile fabricating more and more elaborate lies to explain it

[@clwho4652]

My guess is Garak was telling the truth in his own way. Each one had a truth to it, and all of the truths that were in them was the reason he was banished. The best lies have a truth in them, that is what makes them believable.

[@owlsayssouth]

It's explained in his autobiography.

[@zephyr8072]

Garak: “i have a confession to make, Tain. I disobeyed orders.” Tain: “Happens to the best of us sometimes.” Garak: “I refused to assassinate that woman that’s been blackmailing you.” Tain: “Understandable, she is rather pretty.” Garak: “I accidentally blew up an orphanage and puppy farm.” Tain: “No problem we’ll cover that up.” Garak: “... and I like watching Lower Decks.” Tain: “GET OUT OF MY SIGHT. YOU ARE HEREBY EXILED FOREVER.”

[@denial987]

I really enjoyed Garak. He was the best character on the show.

[@stuartwald2395]

He could have provided a lot of help to Ezri when she was hunting the sniper in season 7. You should always go to people with experience.

[@GrandArchPriestOfTheAlgorithm]

The Wire was pretty good, and so was the DS9 episode. Also, the book is the grim and gritty version of The Neverending Story.

[@Tolly7249]

This episode really shows the showrunners desperate desire to have Bashir and Garak in a relationship. Braga forced them not to be open with the romantic subplot but the actors and writers did everything they could to show it regardless.

[@hariman7727]

You know... the funny thing is that if Garak read The Neverending Story he'd probably like Atreyu, given what Atreyu takes onto his shoulders by the end.

[@jdzencelowcz]

Garak in a nutshell, the best liars.....tell the truth.

[@ShrekWallBee]

do you know whats funny about Garek he pointed out exactly what star trek is a Rependic Epic

[@noblehelium3794]

Why is Dax asking Bashir to look at a plant rather than say a botanist like Keiko O'Brien?

[@fiver-hoo]

Keiko was on long term assignment on Bajor.

[@andrewshearsby8125]

Garak having his lunch date with his husband (Bashir) cute

[@Scaash]

And the end of the show birthed a meme

[@DeconvertedMan]

simple Garak. :)

[@FocusedOnDestiny]

I really wish the new Trek series were more about diving deeper into the other alpha quadrant politics & culture, & seeing things from their perspectives.

[@eeduranti]

My big question on this episode is: to Did Tain know Bashir's big secret where they met in this episode?

[@andrewklang809]

Wouldn't it be weird if the Obsidian Order knew something about Bashir that even the writers didn't?

[@eeduranti]

@@andrewklang809 exactly 😁

[@Ridgwaycer]

@@andrewklang809 The Obsidian Order is just that good.

[@richardreynolds13]

This doesn't look like Baltimore

[@MKDumas1981]

6:40 - The La-Li-Lu-Le-Lo???

[@horaciosi]

"There's more to life than duty to the state" Yeah, I can totally see why people think Star Trek is communist 🙄

[@EebstertheGreat]

It literally is. Their economic system is communist. In fact, it's the final stage of Marxist communism, without state, currency, or private ownership. Gene Roddenberry was a communist. It's where the "fully automated luxury gay space communism" meme comes from. (Later, of course, the power of the state was gradually reintroduced, as was currency in the form of "latinum" (aka space gold), but this wasn't the original plan.) Remember, the UFP is the USSR. The Ferengi are the West.